Overview

Why is there no ""Grand Theory"" in the study of folklore? Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) advocated ""grand theory,"" which put the analysis of social phenomena on a new track in the broadest possible terms. Not all sociologists or folklorists accept those broad terms; some still adhere to the empirical level. Through a forum sponsored by the American Folklore Society, the diverse answers to the question of such a theory arrived at substantial agreement: American folklorists have produced little ""grand theory."" One speaker even found all the theory folklorists need in the history of philosophy. The two women in the forum (Noyes and Mills) spoke in defense of theory that is local, ""apt,"" suited to the audience, and ""humble""; the men (Bauman and Fine) reached for something Parsons might have recognized. The essays in this collection, developed from the forum presentations, defend diverse positions, but they largely accept the longstanding concentration in American folkloristics on the quotidian and local.

Full Product Details

Author:   Lee Haring
Publisher:   Indiana University Press
Imprint:   Indiana University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 0.90cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.249kg
ISBN:  

9780253024398

ISBN 10:   0253024390
Pages:   168
Publication Date:   19 September 2016
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

"Foreword Michael Dylan Foster and Ray Cashman Folkloristics in the Twenty-First Century Alan Dundes Introduction America's Antitheoretical Folkloristics Lee Haring The Sweep of Knowledge: The Politics of Grand and Local Theory in Folkloristics Gary Alan Fine What('s) Theory? Margaret A. Mills The Philology of the Vernacular Richard Bauman Humble Theory Dorothy Noyes Grand Theory, Nationalism, and American Folklore John W. Roberts There is No Grand Theory in Germany, and for Good Reason James R. Dow Responses What Theory Is Newton Garver Weak Theory in an Unfinished World Kathleen Stewart ""Or in Other Words"": Recasting Grand Theory Kirin Narayan Disciplining Folkloristics Charles L. Briggs Afterwords Reflections on Grand Theory, Graduate School, and Intellectual Ballast Chad Edward Buterbaugh Ten Years After Lee Haring"

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Author Information

Lee Haring is Professor Emeritus of English at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and has carried out folklore research in Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, and the other islands of the Southwest Indian Ocean. He is the author of Verbal Arts in Madagascar and Stars and Keys (IUP 2007), a collection of folktale translations from the Indian Ocean islands.

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